SPRING HILL — Two Orlando men have been charged with organized fraud and child neglect after Hernando County authorities say they put children to work as solicitors for a bogus charity.
Kendy Senat, 22, and Terence Holiday, 21, sent nine children, ages 12 to 15, door to door in Spring Hill selling cookies, candy, peanut brittle and dog biscuits, claiming to raise money for a nonprofit organization based in Orlando, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Denise Moloney.
Though Aware & Active Youth Corp. is registered with the state of Florida “to help better the youth in the central Florida community,” according to its articles of incorporation, Senat and Holiday were pocketing most of the money, the Sheriff’s Office said. The organization’s address is a single-family home, Orange County property records show.
Senate and Holiday drove the children from Orlando and dropped them off in Spring Hill on a mission of solicitation without food, water or any means of communication, deputies said. On Wednesday, one of the children asked for a drink of water at a house on Kenway Street, where the group was knocking on doors from about 1 to 6 p.m., until a resident called the Sheriff’s Office.
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